Pris thought he'd seen a mouse.
The first thought in his head when he saw the brown blur fly past was, oh, shoot, I hate mouse traps.
The thing was fast, too. Pris could barely even see it dart away from him.
"C'mon, little guy," He mumbled, as he saw it sprint across his table. "I promise I won't hurt ya." A flash of brown, and the mouse was gone. Faster than Pris could even imagine.
But not fast enough.
Pris saw its tail slip behind tissue box, and hurried over, hands raised in front of him, ready to catch it. He realized, with a start, that the creature had trapped itself. It couldn't just... jump, could it? The fall would surely injure it.
"Just, calm down," He whispered to the box, carefully approaching. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Honest." He knew the mouse couldn't understand him, but he imagined those words would be a little comforting at least.
He gently gripped the tissue box, and lifted it up. Almost immediately the creature was running again. But Pris' hands reacted before his mind did, diving in front of the little thing. He felt it bounce off, and heard a faint, surprised squeak. He gently wrapped his fingers around the mouse, and lifted it up to inspect it.
His eyes widened when he saw not a mouse, but a little, humanlike boy. With scruffy, purplish hair, pale white skin, and... tattered wings? A tail?
A fairy, perhaps?
No, fairies didn't have tails. At least, he didn't believe they did.
He was shaken from his dazed thoughts when he felt tiny, squirming motions in his hand. He gazed at the boy, realizing he was struggling, arms pushing against his fingers, trying to escape.
The next thing he noticed, looking closer at the boy's face, was the tears. The large, watery tears. The gasping, panicked breaths that escaped pale, tiny lips. The fear on his face, oh so present, now that he looked at the details.
The kid was petrified.
"Woah, hey." He breathed, and winced as the boy froze, eyes locked into him. He swore he heard a slight whimper, too. "Don't worry, you're okay."
The boy began mumbling quietly, head hung, in such a small, panicked voice that Pris could never even begin to hear what he was saying.
"Uhm, are you talking to me?" Pris asked hesitantly, and the boy stopped. He scrubbed his tears away, and let out a stuttery hiccup.
Pris' heart melted. This poor kid was scared, because of him.
"Pl-please..." The voice all but barely audible. "Please d-don't... k-k-kill me..." It was faster, repeating now. "P-Please I don't w-want to die, don't k-kill me, please, I-I won't come here ever again, I'm sorry I disturbed you, pl-please..." The kid began to cry even louder, curling in on himself.
"Woah, woah!" Pris felt himself begin to panic, too. "Don't cry... I'm sorry I scared you." His mind groped for something, anything to comfort this poor child. "I won't kill you - I would never harm someone as small as you! - I won't hurt you, no, none of that."
He wanted to hug the kid. But just in his hand, he was hyperventilating.
In his hand...
"Look, I-I'll let you go," He added quickly, gently loosening his grip on the small boy, and transitioning him into two cupped hands instead of the closed fist. "B-But I want to make sure you're... okay."
He realized that the boy was worryingly thin, his shirt barely able to cover the bones that shone through. "I-I mean, you're thin as a twig..."
The boy's tail raised for a second, and then fell. His hands went up to his face and he wiped away the tears, his cheeks rosy and still shining. He looked back up at Pris, warily. "A-and why does that matter to y-you?" He finally muttered, his voice shaky.
